…well not really. I finally sold the old drum kit. The one that basically made me who I am today. It’s not an easy thing getting rid of something that played such a defining role in your life but it was time. It was way too big. We live in an awesome home but it is small. Love grows best in small places ya know J I moved this kit so many times that I just couldn’t do it anymore. Besides, the memories are in my mind, not in the drums themselves.

Charlie, my 8-year-old daughter, took it the hardest but we’re going to buy another kit. Just something smaller and then we can build memories together on that kit and eventually it will become her own. I do have to say though that when I saw that kit stacked and packed in the various corners of my house my reverence for it changed depending on my mood. I had many great memories but I also looked at it with great disappointment. Disappointment in the fact that I didn’t ‘make it’.

From an early age I wanted to be a rock star. I was 9 years old listening to the Kiss Destroyer album and staring at the album cover thinking ‘these guys are the coolest thing ever’. Then I was introduced to Aerosmith and I was hooked. I lived, breathed, walked and talked music. People saw me and they didn’t just see Mike Large, they saw Mike Large the musician. But I didn’t ‘make it’. I feel like I let so many people down. My friends and family rallied around me and my band mates and supported us through thick and thin. They helped us in any way that they could. My parents God Love them who never once questioned my path. They not only supported me they pushed during times of trouble when I felt like the only option was to give up. Maybe I could have done more. Disappointment. I didn’t ‘make it’. My band mates; from my seat behind the kit I saw the greatest rock band that ever lived. The world deserved to be exposed to each of their talents. I wasn’t able to bring them to the next level. I let them down. I let them all down. I didn’t ‘make it’. At least that’s what I often thought.

My wife and I were talking about this very thing one day and what she said changed me forever. I DID make it. I made it and then some. During my lifetime as a musician I MADE so many life long friends. Kindred spirits who all shared the same dream. I made so many amazing memories and experienced things that only few were able to experience because of music. I made it and then some. I made a life out of this music thing. I made a beautiful family and married my best friend whom I met as a result of music. I made it! Damn right! I really did ‘make it.’

So when I received the offer for my drums my heart kinda sunk. I practically gave them away so I started to think “what if this guy doesn’t care for them. What if he just turns around and sells them for more money to someone else who doesn’t care for them. That would really suck. They deserve a good home.” BUT that didn’t happen. When the man who contacted me came to see my kit he brought his 13-year-old son with him. The son was the one who wanted the drums. He brought his own sticks with him no less AND as we were chatting around the kit the Dad said to me “don’t look at me. I’m merely a taxi. He’s been working the last two years to save up for a new kit and the wife and I can’t change his mind.” I was over the moon happy. This kid reminded me of me when I was his age. He lives music. He plays in a band AND they are recording in a local studio a couple of months from now. Studio time that he and his band mates won in a band competition. This kid loved my drums. His excitement was obvious and I knew right then and there that my kit found the perfect home. Instead of being stowed away they will be used. They will be used to play and perform music day in and day out. They will be cared for and that kid will ‘make it’ to.